CHENNAI: Air Asia announced on Friday that the inaugural flight of the low-cost carrier will take flight from Bangalore enroute to Goa on June 12 at a fare of Rs 990.
Air Asia India CEO Mittu Chandilya declared that the first flight of the carrier, a joint venture between Tata Sons and the Malaysian carrier Air Asia, will start plying the Bangalore-Goa route at around 3 pm on June 12 with the fare at a promotional Rs 990. Ticket booking for which started on Friday at 9.30 pm.
“The promotional fare on the Bangalore-Goa route will be Rs 990 but we will be holding to that fare for sometime,” said Chandilya. The low cost carrier (LCC) is also likely to start operating on the Chennai-Bangalore route on June 20.
With the first A320 set to take off from Bangalore, the price set by the LCC is likely to trigger a price war among other LCCs operating in the country with several domestic carriers revising fares over the last month in anticipation of Air Asia’s announcement. When asked about the likelyhood of a price war, Chandilya pointed out that while his carrier could sustain these prices, his competitors would not be able to.
“If my competitors try to run their airlines at my costs, they will be bleeding themselves. I’m not too bothered about them revising prices,” he stated.
The carrier, which will be operating around two hubs - Bangalore and Chennai, is looking to start operating services from 10 cities by the end of this fiscal year. Interestingly, according to Chaindilya, those cities will not include Mumbai and Delhi. “We are not looking to enter into Mumbai and Delhi right now,” said Chandilya who refused to divulge names of the other cities being considered by the LCC. The carrier is also expecting to increase the size of its fleet to 10 by the end of the fiscal.
In terms of breaking even, Chandilya said that he was hoping to do that within 4 months. “And while I would be happy with a load factor of a 100 per cent, 60 per cent would be enough for us to break even in that time,” he added. The carrier will operate with 80 employees per aircraft and a targeted turnaround time 25-35 minutes.